Springfield daily republic. [volume] (Springfield, O. [Ohio]) 1887-1888, 1887-05-19
N THE MIND CURE.
WHAT IS ASSERTED BY THE APos-
TIES OF THIS OPTIMISTIC CREED.
The System Held in High Esteem at
Ancient Athens-Mind aud Matter.
NeryOusness and Hysferis-A Hopeful
sIgn-Semi- inyaiid..

sign-Semi-inyaiids.
Shakespeare. the Universal. seems to
have formulated the theory of the new
school Of healing when he makes Hamlet
Soy that there i. nothing either good or
Rad but thinking makes II so Perhaps
We should not speak of that system as
'new' that would appear 10 have been
IN high esteem al ancient Athens, and that
had an extraordinary vogue in the east at
the beginning OF our era. At first thought
the present interest and excitement in the
subject seem unreal and anaChrUnistlc
But, after all, Is il not natural and fitting
that the mind should he most easily and
absorbingly occupied by matters pertain
Ing To the mind itself
To accept the doctrine of the mind cure
as We understand il, is 10 believe that
health, sanity and virtue are the normal
attributes, the birthright possession. of
man. Disease, dementia. sin, are negative
conditions which il is weak. dishunurable
and sinful To harhor. Refuse To believe
IN Illness. deny pain. resist weakness,
.ay the apostles Of this optimistic creed,
and Illness, pain and weakness vanish,
because they exist only in your thought
Of them Suffering Is simply that state "f
mind shat makes you imagine that YOU
suffer. lOu have only IN get above suf-
fering."
The influence OF mind over matter
hardly needs assertion. The Old illustra
tions Of the moral philosophers alone are
proof enough The miner dying ni fright
on finding his sustaining rope too short,
i'll the pitch dark mine with his feet in
reality six inches from the ground, the
blindf0ld-d man iaiuting in the heli-l
tt4at he was bleeding to death. when only
warm water was tricklin2 down his arm
the workman undergoing the horrible
manifestations of cholera because he was
told falsely that cholera victim had inst
died in the same bed-show the effeC Ot
belief The madness of the insane, wnCh
j. hut a perverted and exaggerated will
power, gives them the strength Of dozen
sane men. And quite lately the shock OF
the earthquake in the Riviera reused a
bedridden woman to rush down four
flights of stairs to the safety of the street
WHAT THE LANCET SAYS.
Even The London Lancet, which i
nothing if not conservative asserts that
in some cases mind has such an effect
upon an organic disease as TO cause new
and healthy formations. This, il will be
seen. goes far beyond the old admission
that nervousness and ''hysteria" We're
subject TO mental influences There is no
doubt that the tendency OF the medical
profession has been decidedly material
istic and that any leaning toward spirit
ual methods, As shown in magnetism, ="
''hypnotism, ''clairyOyance'' and their
like, has been made AZ once disreputable
SO that any germ OF truth they may have
possessed was smothered out Of sight
Yet the little We know of the potency of
the mind over the body shows lis that
there must be an illimitable field for its
action. II We cogld but lind out how to set
it at work And it would seem that our
help must come chiefly from within. not
from without '''Tis i'll ourselves that
We are thus or thus.
Ii appears TO MS a hopeful sign Of a
more wholesome life that large classes Of
women take time and spend money TO
hear this theory of the reality of spiritual
existence eXpounded. After the poet
they are discovering that soul is form,
and doth the body make They are
semi invalids. They have suffered. They
have allowed their thoughts 10 dwell
upon their pains and limitations until
these have come largely to fill their men
tai horizon. Their talk is of sickness
Even young girls, among the well To do
and idle classes, compare symptoms AMI
suggest diagnoses a staple topics Of con
versation. Nothing could lie worse, il
seems TO us, on the score of gop, taste or
OF good health. As dwelling upon one'>
griefs maguifies them, SO dwelling upon
ones pains magnities them. Ii the mind
cure can be made TO work upon these
subjects it must restore Ia activity ener-
gies worse than wasted: il would save
time and money: il would make gray
world into a joyous one; il would multi
ply past calculation the sum of human
happiness. -Harper's Bazaar.